The final morning hunt was upon us.
This huge tract of dark timber was several miles wide and ran up from a road at the extreme valley floor below, to the entrance road at the top. The area was surrounded by meadows. The plan was an all out assault created by our beloved "General" Chris. We would all leave from the truck at the top of the mountain. Jeff and Dave would depart from us and hunt straight down the left side. Chris and Neil would cross and hunt from the right in a classic pincer movement, While I would high tail it down near the bottom and hook around coming upwards.
View from the top.
We were in high spirits as we filed slowly from the vehicle, but things quickly tuned sour as we spotted another hunter's camp near the entrance point. Bummer, but not knowing where he was hunting we continued with the plan and skirted the camp.
Here "General" Chris gives out his final "orders" and sends Jeff and Dave out to very slowly go down the left side.
Jeff and Dave appear amused as they make their departure.
Reaching the far side side meadow, I started high tailing it around and down towards the valley. As I rounded the first peninsula of trees, I was greeted with the sight of two large campers parked on the other side of the valley. Ugh!
Rounding the bottom end's steep ravine, I entered a pocket of meadow leading into the dark timber that had a small picturesque pond.
A family of small ducks greeted me as I made my way around a game trail skirting the pond with no discernible elk sign. I entered a small fold in the top of the meadow near a large overhanging boulder and was greeted with the cool dark musty timber. Ooooh, this looked good. A steep hill bordered on the left, topped by a nice;y timbered bench. To my right the drainage flowed down to the top of that meadow pond. It was green and grassy and filled with ferns and succulent plants and I stopped to listen for 20 minutes before I started side-hilling the slope on the right. OK, I actually had to take a big dump, but the the wind was in my face so no harm done! I felt like there could be elk here, there had to be.
Not soon after, I started my slow stalk. I thought I heard what sounded like a small bull on the bench! A gutteral half chuckle. Or was I imagining things? Did I just hear that right? I cow called softly back, but heard nothing in response. Then, I thought I detected the snap of a twig. I crept forward towards the bench about 15 more yards, placing me in a good spot as the terrain hid me from sight until the animal was very close. So I waited...and waited. Still nothing. I cow called again, and repeated the waiting. Finally, I had no choice but to continue on. I never heard anything else, but I thought if I spooked it, maybe it would run into Chris. I would side-hill around and up again, maybe also run into it. Or did I just imagine it all in the call of the birds?
I was hunting really well, really slowly. Making sure every time I eased over a finger or out of a depression, that I scanned and waited. I felt effective and just needed something to shoot at.
After several hours however, I made it back up top to the meadow. Again, the strory was the same, no fresh sign, no sightings, nothing concrete. At least I didn't bump into any hunters and I was curious if the others saw anything either.
Meeting up at the truck, I found Neil, Jeff and Dave already there. Their story was the same. We certainly covered that area anyway. We sat in the shade of the truck and swapped stories, but still no Chris. After about an hour more we began to have hopes maybe he got into something. Soon, however, he came sauntering up the meadow. He didn't have any luck either, and said he heard me cow calling down in the bottom. Damn. It turns out he went lower than he planned and it was likely that I heard him as well on that bench.
We had one last evening hunt and we discussed plans as we ate our lunches at camp. Neil, Chris and I would go to that large drainage with the lake where we heard the story of two bull's fighting. Dave and Jeff would check out one last area they wanted also. We were covering a lot of ground and running out of options...and time.
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